What is It?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via “natural” or un-paid (”organic”) search results as opposed to paid search engine placement.

There are a number of factors that impact search engine optimization.  The most key thing to remember is that the search engines want pages with useful, relevant content that will be easy for a human reader to use.  You may have read some books or attended a seminar about SEO and heard about different things you can do to increase your page ranking.  We want to help you develop a good SEO Strategy – and equally important, avoid a bad one.

There is no “quick” way to accomplish a good search engine presence.  It’s normal to want to know how to have your site on the first page in Google by next week, and good SEO can’t provide that.  Good SEO represents an investment of time, patience and effort, but it pays off just like any sound, long-term business strategy.  Bad SEO might get you to the top of the heap faster, but it not only won’t keep them there – it can bring you back down just as fast.  Bad SEO is more effort in the long run because you have to keep trying new things.  Good SEO get you there slower, but it keeps you there longer with less effort once you arrive.

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Right vs. Wrong 

—There are two kinds of SEO:  Black hat & White hat.  Let’s look at the difference…

Black hat SEO utilizes unethical methods such as link farms, keyword spamming or stuffing, and content duplication to artificially inflate search engine placement.  There is one very important thing to remember with these techniques:  They do not work over the long term.  Even if they show modest results in the short term, the search engines will always catch on to them.  Sites which use these techniques nearly always end up being blacklisted – that is, removed from organic search results.  Black hat SEO can also involve techniques were once considered “legitimate” and no longer are.  You should definitely avoid these types of techniques.

White hat SEO on the other hand, is defined as ethical techniques which conform to a search engine provider’s guidelines, and which involve no deception.  There is no specific rule-set for good SEO.  The more accessible and reachable your website is to a live human being, the better it will rank on a search engine.  Search engines specifically want to catalog pages that humans will use.  Therefore, the best things that you can do for your search engine placement is to your site content: clear, accessible, relevant and up to date.
It is never necessary to fool or trick a search engine to obtain better placement, and attempts to do so will eventually result in your site being down ranked or even banned from the search engine.

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Good Basics 

—Let’s start by looking at the basics. The core functions driving search engine ranking are Content Relevance & Site Popularity.

Content Relevance is known as content that is viewable by the search engine.  You as the creator of your website determine the depth and quality of your content through the addition of your content – your text and images – to your website.

You’ve likely heard that Flash isn’t SEO friendly.  There’s some truth to that statement.  Flash-only websites by themselves don’t have as much content depth as HTML websites as a general rule, so they have less content relevance.  Flash-only sites are searchable on a superficial level – the domain name and the Meta data is searchable, but the flash object is not readable by the search engine spiders and does not contribute to content depth.  Google is making some progress on being able to read the contents of a Flash file, but at this time HTML is still more “search engine friendly”.

HTML websites have higher relevancy because they support more data.  In addition to the domain name and meta data, HTML pages have data-rich text content and the site tree is readable to the search engines.  This makes HTML easier to categorize from a search engine perspective.  PhotoBiz has several tools available to help you increase the content relevancy of your Flash website.

Site Popularity deals with the amount of traffic to your website.  Site popularity can involve methods that are not specific to SEO but which are valuable marketing strategies from a business perspective involving your website.  Some examples of methods of increasing site popularity:

• Public Relations – creating press releases or articles that generate interest in your work and your website.
• Email campaigns – good, relevant email marketing such as email newsletters, focused toward people who actively want to receive them.
• Word of mouth is the strongest way to increase site popularity.  These days, word of mouth can include forums and social media as well as face to face contact.
• Inbound links from relevant, high-traffic sites provide both accessibility and popularity for your website.   Reciprocal links carry less weight, but do help particularly when they are with other relevant, high-traffic sites.

Search Engine Optimization is only one part of a total business marketing plan and should only make up about 5%-10% of a marketing strategy.  Building good site popularity does help with your SEO, but the value of it reaches beyond just your search engine presence.

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 In Summary…

What SEO Is:  SEO is a way to improve your site’s find ability.  SEO is supportive of relevant content that is readable and accessible to real humans.

What SEO Is Not:  SEO is not a way to fool or trick search engines into placing your site higher.  Consistently, time and time again the sites that stay in the top of their keyword rankings are sites that have relevant information, appropriate cross-links and are easy to find.

What’s Coming Next: We’ll look at your Meta tags, what they do and don’t do for you, and how to write good Meta tags that support your SEO.

We were on the search for the best background built within the PhotoBiz Community.  After, almost 50 entries of our (+)13,000 clients, we have narrowed down the competition to 10 finalists.  And the Votes are in…

Congratulations to Smittee’s Airbrush

Smittee Zack with “Smittee’s Airbrush has won the Competition with the BEST BACKGROUND!  (Results Below)  They are going to be awarded with a Free Sub-Site.

Check out the Smittee’s Airbrush

Also, the Lucky Voter to Win a Free Sub-Site is Edit Crabtree who also happens to be a PhotoBiz Customer.

Check out Crabtree & Co.

**NOTE: You can click on each individual photo to view a larger version of it!

With over 13,000 photographers using PhotoBiz, we realized that there is an abundance of talent and knowledge here.  The goal of our blog is to share our news, share industry news, and educate.  With that said, what better way to educate than to utilize some of the best photographers in the world.

Visit Hiram Trillo Art-Photography

About Hiram: I have been involved with photography for about 15 yrs.  I have always been infatuated with  photography.  From childhood I use to love the photography of the  1920′2 thru 50’s.  All the images where so captivating, from cinema to the great depression every image told a story.  I bought my first camera at the age of 17 from a pawn shop.  Most of my early photography was shot and developed guerilla style.  I would buy old film (yes film) from camera stores and would develop them at the univeristy campus darkroom even though I did not have a photography class. I got caught a few times, but I paid my way in by helping clean the room or anything they needed. I finally ended up taking a position at the university news paper and worked my way to becoming one of the sports editors.  A professor at the university saw some of my photographs and added me to an art exhibition that his senior students were having at a local gallery.  It was there that a soon to be bride approached me and asked of I would do a bridal portrait, I had never shot a bride before, but I gladly said yes.  After that I decided to learn more about the industry and just felt in love with the idea of creating art pieces for such a great occasion.

After working and learning under some great wedding photographers I decided to do it on my own.  I began honing my skills by learning everything in sight about wedding photography the likes and dislikes of it all and how I would take my artistic approach to this industry.  We created a couple of stand alone pieces for a friends’ wedding soon after that we had our first client and Hiram Trillo Art-Photography was born.

Your Brand  ::  Your Name

In this economy, business can get a bit frustrating.  From low balling customers to outrageous demands, we all want our money’s worth.  Although I love photography it can get hectic at times.  Photography is a very competitive business in which the competition increases by 21% each year according to Forbes November 2008 issue.  The good and bad news is that about .5 percent of those are actually good.  With an over saturated market and clients bombarded with bad photographers, you need something that is going to give you the edge over the competition. Building a brand is that edge.

First what is a brand? A brand is more than just a logo or a symbol.  It is a name that people can trust.  A brand can mean and package all of the associations, experiences, and characteristics into one.

Your brand is the most important feature of your business.  This can help you in winning customers and it will help you to keep them.  They do this by associating experiences (personal or of others) they had in the past.  When a customer has a good experience with your studio, they immediately show your product to others.  This increases your exposure and markets your name.  This is brand building.  Every time your photographs are displayed in a home, online, or magazine it speaks volumes.  Let’s talk about the second one, online exposure to build your brand.

As we all know, the internet is probably the most powerful tool we as photographers have.  We can have our product online out to the public almost immediately.  This is where a good website can begin to build your brand.  A greatly designed, easy to navigate site will speak volumes.  As customers come to visit your site, they want to know what you are all about. Consider this your resume, in a way they are looking for the best candidate for the job.  As with a resume, you want it clean, neat, and to the point.  They do not want to hunt to find the information.  You want them to stay at your site, yes, but because they enjoy it, not because they can not find their way out, this can frustrate a potential client and loose them, so keep it simple. What makes you different as an individual should also be what makes you different as photographer. Keep them interested without overloading them with information, remember keep it simple.  Give them a “hook” of what you are all about.

You should consider having a uniform look to your brand.  For example, My favorite color is blue, so I use it on my website, this is an extension of myself. In addition to this I use complimentary colors and match those colors in our blog.  When the customer visits our blog they know they are in the right place.  Your blog should be an extension of your website, not the other way around.  We take it one step further and we matched our website to all of our business cards, letter heads, envelopes, and information packets. By paying attention to details it lets the customer know that we are a name they can trust and that we take great care in all the details.

Of course building your name and brand takes time; how long it takes is up to you. Like anything else you must be persistent and patient.  Develop a business plan with an idea of what you want to accomplish.  Take advantage of the internet.  Let this become a power tool for you.  Develop a website that represents you and what your studio stands for.  Take advantage of all the free networking sites; keep your customers and colleagues in the loop by developing a blog that accents your website.  Remember let your customers do the work for you.  Have positive actions and you will have equal reactions which in turn will help you establish a solid reputation, a strong brand, and solid name for your studio and work.

Visit Hiram Trillo Art-Photography

Hiram Trillo
Hiram Trillo Art-Photography
www.hiramtrillo.com
806-252-3952
htrillophotography@sbcglobal.net

1)  Enhanced Paging

You will now have the functionality of scrolling pages of your images.  This is extremely useful when uploading hundreds of images.  Before, if you uploaded hundreds of images on a page, you would see the pages go all the way across the screen.  Now, only 16 pages will display at a time.  You will have to click the arrows to see the next set of pages.

You may not even notice this unless you upload hundreds of photos in one gallery (we recommend about 15-20 NOT 250), however, this will also enhance the overall speed and effectiveness of the control panel.

2)  Splash Page accepts PNG files

With the addition of some recent splash page upgrades such as Backgrounds, we have realized the need to facilitate PNG (transparent) images.  We recently updated this feature for the logo on the splash page and now have opened this functionality to all images on the splash page.  Whether it is a “main” image that links to your website or blog, or an image uploaded in your footer; PNG transparent files are now widely acceptable by the PhotoBiz Splash Intro page!

3)  Enhanced SEO on Splash Pages

We have recently included a new Enhanced SEO section for the Splash Page similar to every page/gallery of your website.  As we are leading the advancement of Search Engine Optimization in the Flash Industry, we continue to innovate and enhance this for you!  Here are some step by step instructions to help you out with a screen shot from your control panel:

**Remember to take advantage of the incredible team of SEO Specialists that we have here available for you by phone for FREE!

If you are a PhotoBiz customer, I am proud to announce that you now have access to switch between 71 different Flash website templates with one click of the mouse and no additional costs as we release “Venice” today!

The New York Times is quoted saying that Venice is, “undoubtedly the most beautiful city built by man”.  Known as the “City of Water”, City of Bridges, and “The City of Light; we are excited for our Full Screen Collection to travel to this beautiful city and pick up on some of its attributes.

“Venice” is the second template in our series of three that are built on the same concept structure.  Building off of “Florence”, that contained a color shifting effect behind the images as they transitioned, the New “Venice” allows for color shifting behind the logo too.  This allows you to change the color on the left sidebar to coordinate with each image as they transition.  Along with color shifting, “Venice” is designed without any borders giving it a distinctly different look and overall appearance.

Click Here To View A Sample

Another great feature with this series of templates is the fact that the logo can be placed on the left OR the right.  With just 1 click, you decide.  As this series is a part of the larger “Full Screen” collection, lets look at some of its other fully customizable attributes:

For a Full Features List, Click Here

PhotoBiz and our Full Screen Collection are taking a wonderful trip overseas to Florence Italy to introduce its 70th Template!  Projected to be one of the most popular templates by design, there is also a new feature to check out with the addition of this new Florence Template.

As you can see, the sleek new design has a beautiful sidebar placed to the left that holds your logo.  Now I would recommend a .PNG transparent file for your logo so that you can take full advantage of the color shifting effect.  This means that as your images transition, you can have the colors “shift” and change colors to coordinate with predominate colors in each image.

What Else Do I Get?

For starters, you have 100% control over the color shifting and color management throughout the template.  If you want a different color, literally anywhere on this template, you can input a HEX number or use our professionally designed color schemes for a quick customized look.

Let’s say you preview your website to format nicely on a large monitor, but your customers are viewing from a small notebook monitor…  Our proprietary system will automatically reformat your website to fit each monitor/customer that visits.

The Best SEO in the Industry is of course included for FREE!  This includes page specific Meta Tags, deep linking URL’s,  Automatic XML site mapping, an HTML Splash Page, an automatic HTML mirror site (One-time $45 fee) and unlimited free access to SEO experts here on the PhotoBiz team.

Switch from your current PhotoBiz Flash website to Florence with just 1 click of your mouse and no additional cost!  We will have this template available today in your control panel so there are no updates necessary by you! (Cloud Computing) Let us know how you like Florence’s design and how you like all of the features we have been creating!

All of the images in this template are provided by Josh Blumental

Give us your Feedback and let us know what you think.

Feel Free to ReTweet, Share, and re-distribute this article!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW A LIVE SAMPLE!!

Check out Jen’s Website! 

1. What equipment you do you use?

I’m a loyal Nikon user all the way :) I currently shoot with a D700. I also use an SB800 for my flash, when I use a flash,  (usually rent a couple more for weddings) with a couple of pocket wizards. For my lenses I LOVE LOVE LOVE my 1.4D (wish they had a 1.2), a 3.5 18-200 VR, my LensBaby Composer and I’m planning to get the 2.8 70-200 before the end of the year. I do my main edits in Lightroom then I sharpen and add my finishing touches in PS4.

2. How long have you been shooting?

I’ve been shooting for 6 years total, but one year professionally. 

3. Where are you located?

Joliet, IL (suburb of Chicago) but will soon be relocating back to Jacksonville, FL.

4. What type of photography do you take?

I take a photojournalistic approach, though I know it is not true photojournalism. I really don’t like “say cheese” photography though I do think some photographers are really great with it. It just isn’t my style. My focus is on wedding photography but have recently taken a big interest in fashion photography, mainly bridal glamour. When I started professionally, I was doing pet photography. I still do some pet photography, but mainly of my own pooches (I have three). I love landscape photography, though I don’t do much of it because there isn’t much to see around here (unless you like smoke stacks and run down buildings… hahaha).

5. Price range of events?

For pet and lifestyle portrait sessions it starts at $500 and includes a DVD of images. For weddings I start at $2400 and go up to $4600 (4-12 hour packages). All of our packages include an e-session, usually a second photographer (we don’t guarantee a second photographer unless it is specifically paid for), a DVD of the images, and online proofing. We also offer A La Carte items that they can add to their base package such as custom guest books, albums, extra hours, slideshows, folios, etc.

6. When did you notice that you had passion for photography?

I’ve had a passion for photography since about 6 years ago. I wanted a digital camera really bad and my husband surprised me with one (he was my boyfriend at the time) for Christmas. It was a little 3 megapixel Kodak EasyShare. When it became more than a hobby was one evening when I lived in Florida, a rain storm had come through and I noticed the blinds, which were shut, were glowing pink. I looked outside to witness the most amazing sunset.  I ran outside with my camera and took a few pictures. The pictures were amazing without any adjustments. The sky was just glowing. That’s when it turned into a passion. I later upgraded to a Canon Powershot (not a DSLR) and ended up with my first DSLR a little over two years ago. I switched to Nikon when I bought the DSLR. I bought a D80. It’s been a great starter camera but I’m ready for the real deal!

7. Is there anything unique about what you do?

I think every artist has something unique about them, it’s bringing that unique side out that is difficult. You see so many people doing so much of the same that it’s hard to think of how YOU as an individual are unique. What separates me from others is my business knowledge and customer service. Many photographers don’t understand how to run a business, so they become a photographer, blow their money and end up out of business in a few years. Coming from a business background and working a corporate job helped me to get it right from the get go. Keeping straight books, yearly and monthly goals, targets, scorecards, etc has helped me to stay on track and run the business, not just be a photographer. I also think my personality goes hand in hand with my customer service skills. My focus is not to always land the job, but to make the people who do work with me remember me for how much they enjoyed working with me. This way they walk away happy and end up referring others to me.

8. Have you had to changed anything to adjust in current economic times?

Something I learned very early on is great customer service goes a long way. One of the things I love to do is make the experience my customer has with me unique so that they refer other people to me and become walking advertisements for me. Although I’ve had to keep my prices fairly conservative for my area, I’ve found people are willing to pay for quality.

To give you a few examples, for every wedding I book, my Client gets a “Thank you for booking with us” gift. You can view an example of it on my blog. They are always so thrilled with the gift. You can choose what you want to put in there but I chose a couple of things that I know every time they look at them they will remember that I purchased those as a thank you for them and they are more likely to refer other people to me.  Also, for all of my wedding Clients I give them a really nice package for their DVD. It’s called a DVD folio that I order through Cypress. You can also see an example of that on that same blog link above. I have swatch samples for them to choose which colors they’d like.

Ultimately customer service is a big driver. People are willing to pay for a better experience and more people are willing to come back for other things when they had a great experience with you. One example is I have a bride who’s wedding I photographed that has booked me for her baby’s 6 month photos. 

9. Describe your shooting style?

As one bride wrote on her questionnaire, “Jen Style!” Ha! Love it! I think editing style also goes hand in hand with shooting style. When I shoot, I am always looking for a vantage point that most people don’t see because most people are only looking at things from eye level. I like to create an interpretation of something, someone, etc that everyone can see but that has show them from a different vantage point and something that is different and unique. I try to get up higher than everyone or lay on the ground. It also all depends on what I’m photographing. I also do whatever I can to use natural light. I don’t like shooting with a flash so most times I won’t shoot with one. If I can avoid it than I do. I think natural light has a beauty that flash doesn’t do justice to, although I do think flash can help in certain situations. So much of today’s digital photography is defined by the photographer’s editing style too. I like bright, contrasty images, which I think my work reflects, that really pop when you look at them.

 
10. What are your goals for the future?


Great question! Aside from the business aspect of it with meeting numbers and targets, my goal is to develop my style and focus on specializing in one type of photography. Since I really enjoy glamour and fashion I’d like to develop my eye for that type of photography and incorporate that into my wedding photography. Let’s face it. The bride is THE one to please. She feels the most beautiful and exotic that she has ever felt in her entire life and she wants photographs that will reflect that. Why not mesh that with bridal glamour so every time she sees her photos it invokes the feelings she felt on her wedding day?

11. Do you have a Facebook Fan Page or a Twitter account?
Yes! You can become a fan by going to Facebook or follow me on Twitter. My Twitter name is JenStarlight.

12. Do you have a blog, and if so, how have you found it has enhanced your business?

Yes, I do have a blog.  I would love to see Photobiz come out with a blog for us to use that is incorporated into the control panel (hint hint Dave!! haha). I have found it has helped my business tremendously. Aside from being able to show my personality through my blog entries, potential clients are able to go through my blog and view photography in my daily life, view photos from jobs that don’t necessarily go into my portfolio, and it’s a great way to take the formality out of the business website and really put my personality into it so they can determine if I am a good fit for them.

I recently had a wedding Client (who booked with me) that my husband, Colby, and I met with at Starbucks to sign the contract and as soon as we walked in she said, “Happy belated birthday Colby!” He said, “Thanks. How did you know I just had my birthday?” She said, “I read it on Jen’s blog. I love her blog. I follow it all the time!” It was good to know and hear.

13. What advice would have for someone starting out?


Don’t quit your day job! At least not yet. Seriously, I’ve seen a million times where someone gets a business idea, they quit their day job to pursue it, their business goes under and before they know it, they are out of business with no job, no income, no way to pay next month’s mortgage payment, etc. A business takes time to build. You have to be willing to put in your 8 hour day job hours and then another 8 hours a day into your business. If you happen to be one of those lucky people who is supported by someone else and your income doesn’t matter, well, then you are lucky, but most of us have to have day jobs when we start out. Eventually I hope to quit my day job (corporate job) but not today!

Advice on a photography related note… I would really recommend finding a photographer that inspires you and try to practice underneath them or pick their brains to find out what worked for them. What worked for them may not work for you and vise versa. Don’t be afraid to ask questions because that’s the only way to learn and if you’re asking someone who makes you uncomfortable because you asked, then find someone else. There are great places/forums where you can excellent advice for seasoned experts in the industry. The Photobiz fan page on Facebook is an excellent resource. Also check out the Photobiz blog because they periodically post videos that are super helpful.

I’ll make this my last piece of advise… There is more to running a photography business than just taking pictures. I would recommend taking some business classes to make sure you run a successful business (success being defined as an organized business that is profitable, not necessarily achieving “rock star” photographer status). Be sure to watch the video on the Photobiz blog about creating a business plan. You NEED a business plan. Make reasonable goals for your business. Hold monthly meetings with yourself/your associate(s) and go over your numbers and make sure you are doing everything you can to improve yourself and your business. I make monthly goals for myself. I don’t beat myself up if I don’t achieve those goals but it helps me look at where I am and decide what I need to be doing to achieve those goals next time. I also keep monthly Google Analytics reports to direct my business to the appropriate geographic location/audience. Keep a running record of you inquiries (I use Quickbooks for this) and which ones result in bookings. There is so much to know and so much I could tell you but it would take a REALLY long time (aka my college degree!) to give you all the info. I hope this helps. The irs.gov website has great resources for small businesses that you should take advantage of if you haven’t already.

Past Featured Photographers
2009
February :: March :: April :: May :: June :: July :: August :: September :: October

We previously discussed a lot of quick tips on Building your Facebook Fan Page and managing it successfully. In this second part of the series, I want to switch gears a little and talk specifically about growth strategies for your Fan Page.

I Need Fans, FAST! –Growth Strategies:

1.  Send out an email to your entire email list letting them know about your Facebook Fan Page. This is very important because up until now, you have had somewhat of a soft launch of your page.

• Include: “Your Business Name” is now on FACEBOOK! Come Join Us! In the Subject Line.
• Make it a fun announcement with pictures; tell them “Why” they should come to be a part of your page.
• Make it easy for them to join. You can embed a “Become a Fan” button or a “Fan Page Badge” in your email. (*Described Below)

2.  Update your page frequently (2-3 times daily) with pictures, polls, questions, ask for feedback; let your fans know what is going on in your world. I would encourage more but if this is too much; set a goal and realize that the more you can do, the better.

3.  The most important part of you posting is to encourage your Fans to post. Encourage engagement by your Fans!

• Example: Post a photo on your page with a comment: Say a little something about the photo or who’s in the photo then mention “Click “LIKE” if you like this photo”
• Quick response time is key to an active page

4.  Suggest your page to all of your friends on Facebook

• Go to your Fan page and click on “Suggest to Friends” (this is located just under your profile picture to the left). Then it will pop up a box with all of your friends and have “ALL” highlighted. You then have to go through all of your friends and click on each one individually. Then click “Send Invitation”

5.  Ask Friends, Family, and Clients to “Share” your page.

• They can do this by going to your page, scroll down to the bottom of the left sidebar under your profile picture, and click “Share”. This will post a message on their personal page to come look at you.
• They can also do #4 described just above!

6.  Put the URL to your Facebook Page on Business Cards, Marketing Material, Workshop & Tradeshow Material, etc… Anywhere you can! Just put it right next to your website link.

7.  Network with other Platforms- Connect with other networks like Twitter, Linked In, Myspace & your Blog.

8.  Create a Resource - Offer pertinent information to users that may be interested and use your product.

9.  Create Contests that include participation - Encourage participation and community growth by having giveaways, coupons, discounts, etc…

10.  Link Facebook to your Website!! Here are a few different ways you can look at as an example:

http://MOYALARA.com :: http://LARRYPEREZ.com :: http://MATTANDREWS.biz

http://MICHELLEMOORESENIORS.com :: http://IMPACTMARKETINGPHOTOS.com

Notice that I didn’t mention Facebook Ads. These can be very effective but should be utilized as a last resort because they will cost you Marketing Dollars.

Additional Tips and How To’s:

Jason Stair’s Tip: The maximum size for your profile picture is 200×600 pixels. Use all of this real estate to maximize impact!

*Creating a Facebook Badge: Go to your Fan Page and click on “Add Fan Box to Your Site”. There are a lot of options here so spend some time customizing your badge. Again, you can post this on your blog, website (Splash Page Footer), and many more places so use it effectively.

*Creating a Vanity URL: This is an easy one that is absolutely necessary! If your Facebook Fan Page has over 25 fans, while you are logged into your Facebook account, go to http://facebook.com/username. Be sure to look below the names that it originally suggests and click on “Set a username for your Pages”. Here it will let you search for the availability of your chosen name and start using it immediately. *NOTE: Be sure to choose the right name as it CANNOT ever be changed! (as far as I know)

*Using the FBML Application: I might recommend this to be used only if you are comfortable using HTML coding or willing to learn.

• Adding the Application: Browse applications and search for “Static FBML”. It will allow you to add this application to any of the pages that you are an admin of.
• Editing the Application: Once you have added it to your page, go to “Edit Page” and find this under the “applications” section. Click on the modification button to the right of this FBML application and click on “Edit”. Here you can title the page, add FBML code (which is very similar to HTML) and save. *You can also add up to 10 boxes below where it says “Add another FBML box”.
• Creating a “Tab”: You can make this become a tab at the top by going to your page, click on the (+) sign to the right of your tabs, and select the FBML box that you wish.
• Landing Page: You can designate a particular tab to be the landing page like Coca Cola (http://www.facebook.com/cocacola) (They are using the Static FBML application)
• Linking to Tabs: Did you know that each Tab at the top of your Facebook Fan page has a unique URL that you can send people to? 1) Go to “Edit” your page, 2) Click on the Modify Button (Pencil), 3) Click “Link to this Tab”

*Getting Notifications: There are a few different ways to receive notifications. This is the single biggest improvement that Facebook needs to make in my mind. (Unless I am missing something too)

• You can subscribe to your page’s updates via SMS (text message), however, it does not send you all of the updates.
• Click on “Settings” on the very top bar, and then click on “Notifications”. You will be able to sign up for any email or SMS text messaging notifications that you would like. As I receive email to my phone, I choose to opt out of any text messages here to avoid double alerts for the same thing.

It is important to set goals for your social media efforts like you would with your business. Utilize your “Insights” that tell you all types of information. Set benchmarks for fan growth, Interactions, and much more as you can export this into Excel.

If you found this to be helpful, we would greatly appreciate you sharing the love with #4 & #5 of the growth section for PhotoBiz. Don’t keep us a secret!

Feel free to REPUBLISH this post on your own blog, SHARE a link to it on your Facebook Pages and RETWEET this on Twitter!

First of all, I am here to try and make things easier and more efficient for you.  We have a lot of great tips and tricks to share with you so this is Part 1 of our 2 part series.  As I manage social media for PhotoBiz, I often think of different ways that our customers can utilize these networks more efficiently and effectively; so let’s dive in!  Here is also a previous article we wrote on Facebook Tips for Business

First, some preliminary Musts!
You MUST:

• Create a vanity URL:  Any Fan page with more than 25 Fans can create a shortened URL for their page similar to PhotoBiz (i.e. http://facebook.com/photobiz)
• Remember that anytime you leave a link to your Facebook Fan Page (Or your Website for that matter) include the http:// of your domain so that it appears as a live “clickable” link rather that just text that you would have to copy and paste in the address bar. (i.e. photobiz.com  OR http://photobiz.com )
• Be sure to spend a majority of your time on Facebook engaging on your BUSINESS PAGE, not your personal page.
• Treat the Inbox at the top like it’s the inbox to your business email; respond appropriately and promptly.
• Accept and deny causes, groups, pages, etc… as you want your customer’s to perceive you and your business (Religious, Political, and Controversial)

*You can create a vanity URL by going to http://facebook.com/username.  *NOTE*-You must have at least 25 fans.  You will need to be logged in to Facebook and look toward the bottom.  Once you have chosen your name, it CANNOT be changed!

Don’t Waste Your Time! – Efficiency

• If you’re a mobile “data” user, download the Facebook App on your iPhone or Blackberry to help manage it.
• Don’t get caught up in spending too much time on here as it’ easy to do and can be more “Fun” than Effective…
• If you have a blog, use Social RSS to have your blog content automatically transferred to Facebook.
• If you are a Twitter user, there are a number of applications that allow you to automatically update both with the same message.  We choose “Selective Twitter Status”.

Be Human!

• Don’t be so business and promote your own products ALL of the time.  This will get annoying and spammy to your fans.  Mix it up a bit and throw some fun into it.
• Utilize your ability to “Send an Update to Fans” wisely.  DO NOT do this all the time or you will lose fans rather than gain.  Include incentives and a lot of resourceful information.

A Few Final Tips…

• Are you a part of Forums, groups, blogs, other Facebook pages, etc…?  Tell people to become a fan of your page and you will return the Favor.  There was a recent post on I Love Photography Forum with well over 100 posts and each person was cooperative in this.
• Use the “FBML Application” if you are familiar with HTML to build custom tabs to your site at the top.  You can designate a particular tab to be the landing page like Coca Cola (http://www.facebook.com/cocacola)
• Did you know that each Tab at the top of your Facebook Fan page has a unique URL that you can send people to?  1) Go to “Edit” your page, 2) Click on the Modify Button (Pencil), 3) Click “Link to this Tab”
• Use the “TAG” feature.  When creating a wall post, if you are mentioning someone, add @ before their name.  This will allow for anyone to click on that “tagged” name and visit their profile or page (whichever you tagged) Viral Marketing!

If you liked this, be sure to check back next week when we give you a bunch of tips on:

How to GROW your Fan base on Facebook!

I hope that this helps you manage your Facebook page and brings you in a bunch of referrals.  If it does, please leave us a comment with your success stories.